I thought I was through with this?

I'm at the cusp of week 17 with Baby Reed. "You should be feeling so much better by now" say both my doctor and those informative (but sometimes annoying) emails from Babycenter.  Why, o why, am I having first trimester flashbacks? One minute I'm brushing my hair for work and the next minute I'm doubled over with nausea. My theory is that Baby Reed wants me to remember he or she is still there. How could I forget? Besides the profound abdominal growth, there are still a million other signs that the baby is there. The two most recent and remarkable signs:

1. We finally got to hear the heartbeat!! For our first ultrasound, the sound portion of the machine was broken. For our first in-office doppler, the doctor (to my absolute terror) couldn't find the heartbeat just yet and had to use ultrasound to show us that yes, you can stop turning white and hyper-ventilating, that heart is pumping away. For this past Thursday's visit, he found the heartbeat almost immediately. However, he proceeded to chase the kid back and forth from one side of my abdomen all the way to the other so we could hear it for more than a second. I'm wondering if this is indicative of our baby's personality and energy level? If the baby is moving this much it's no wonder that I can feel...

2. Baby kicks. Clear, distinguishable ones. Not "oh, is that a gas bubble or a baby" kicks. I was resting my hand outside my abdomen yesterday morning and felt a clear kick. WOW. So freaking cool. I then felt more kicks at the beginning of the Saints game, but they stopped after about four minutes. Chris is even more convinced it is a girl because only a girl would get excited for the first four minutes of a football game and then go to sleep.

Speaking of Saints game... (I'm the queen of segues today) I got to go to my first one in the Superdome, thanks to some friends of ours who are season ticket holders who generously surrendered last nights tickets into our willing hands. Even though I was a zombie in the second half, we really enjoyed ourselves!

Food Challenge

My question of the week (besides that whole celebrity voyeurism thing): How does a pregnant woman eat healthy? Like, really healthy. And ENJOY it?

For more than 6 months before we conceived, Chris and I had been on a major health food/exercise kick. I went from begrudgingly eating vegetables, to enjoying them, to practically savoring them. I craved roasted broccoli. I was practically vegan before I got pregnant with this little one. Ten weeks (and almost fifteen pounds lost) of barely being barely being able to eat anything and definitely not enjoying practically any food has damaged my oh-so-carefully built new habits. I've been eating whatever I feel like eating because I ate so little and just needed to keep something in my stomach.

Challenges:
Challenge 1: During the first trimester, I had a major aversion to vegetables. I could not even swallow them. It was one of the saddest times of my life.
Challenge 2: My taste had become very primitive for awhile. While weight gain wise I have been able to eat whatever I want, I know that the additives and salt content (not to mention sugar, fat, etc.) in the more processed food I have been eating are being passed to my baby, and this I definitely don't like.


I'm not so worried about the weight gain (knock on wood) because I've lost so much already, but I would like to keep my weight gain low and, more importantly, my health (and the baby's) high. I'm already overweight and at a higher risk for gestational diabetes and preclampsia.

This week has been my first full week where I've had more freedom with food. I've finally reincorporated some veggies (although not nearly enough). I eat a lot of fruit and cheese. Anyone have suggestions on portable snacks and easy meals to make that will be great superfoods for the baby and me? Now that I don't feel like death, I feel like I can focus on health in this pregnancy as opposed to mere survival. Also, I would love to have a diet that gives me the energy to continue yoga and swimming again, asap.

Update...real post to follow!

It's been about a month since I posted last, so here's a brief "life update":
-Baby Reed is 16 weeks old and looking less like a t-rex and more like the cute little person that he/she is. I've run a quite a range of feelings already about this pregnancy- bewilderment, fear, nausea and excitement to name a few. As my end of the 1st trimester baby "beer belly" turns into an ever so slight looking baby bump, I've finally  settled into my position as "baby grower" and started to prepare myself to be "baby raiser" so that I don't become "baby's inept mother". Chris and I are slowly trying to make steps to be the parents we want to be and make our household and family life what we want it to be. One big change - much more book reading, much less tv watching.

-Most of you know about my dad and how he's going through surgery/treatment for cancer. Hard times always show who the most faithful friends are, and I've been pleasantly surprised and grateful for the people who have come out of the woodwork and made a point to ask how the surgery went or to let me know they're praying. When I read my Dad's facebook wall, I'm super impressed at how many people care about him and my mom and are constantly posting words of encouragement. Thank you so much for your prayers for him and my family.

-Because of Dad's surgery, my little brother came and stayed with us in our tiny apartment for just under a week. Two adults, one teenager and a cat in a one bedroom apartment is tight, but not impossible. It makes me realize how little space we can actually live in. Gabby (our cat) was grateful to share the living room so as long as she could have a snuggly sleep buddy :)